1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hazardous spill containment berms and more specifically it relates to a fluid controlled containment berm system for automatically forming a containment berm to contain hazardous liquid spills involving a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the prior art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such prior art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
Conventional hazardous material containment berms are typically comprised of a solid concrete pit that the vehicle drives into for loading/unloading of hazardous materials such as chemicals, fuel and the like. Recently, portable hazardous material containment berms have been created that can be transported and setup in remote locations as desired. Conventional portable containment berms are comprised of a fabric attached to a supporting structure. These berms receive vehicles of various weights, sizes and lengths.
A main problem with conventional portable containment berms is that they require significant amounts of time and workers to assemble. A further problem with conventional portable containment berms is that they are relatively large in size and do not allow for a compact storage size. Another of the problems with conventional portable containment berms is that the corners of the fabric material are susceptible to tearing when driven over by the vehicle.
While conventional containment berms may be suitable for the particular purpose to which they address, they are not as suitable for automatically forming a containment berm to contain hazardous liquid spills involving a vehicle. Conventional containment berms typically require extensive setup time to create the supporting walls.
In these respects, the fluid controlled containment berm system according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of automatically forming a containment berm to contain hazardous liquid spills involving a vehicle.